


Part Of Your World

by haroldarlin



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mermaids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2014-04-24
Packaged: 2018-01-20 11:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1509383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haroldarlin/pseuds/haroldarlin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After regaining his balance on the board, Louis opened his mouth to speak but was suddenly at a loss for words.<br/>“Oops,” the man said, as if to apologize for startling Louis.<br/>“Hi,” Louis said. He immediately had to stifle the urge to hit himself in the face. <i>‘hi’, seriously? That’s the most lame response I’ve ever…</i></p>
<p>When Louis' little sisters start talking about mermaids, he assumes they're just imagining things. When he sees a bloody big fish, he assumes he's just really high. But when Lottie falls ill, Louis knows that mermaids just might be his saving grace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!! So, here's my long awaited Larry Stylinson mermaid au!! I've been working on this for a while, and I'm really excited to finally share it with you! I'd like to thank tumblr user koalicorn for being my beta/editor throughout this, and helping me brainstorm ideas!! So yeah, that's it, please enjoy, and comment! And you can find me on tumblr @ haroldarlin!

“Louis, hurry up!!” A blonde-haired blur flew past Louis’ face as he sat at the foot of the stairs, getting the girls’ sand toys together. A matching blur soon followed the first, giggling gleefully.  
He rolled his eyes and grinned at them, “Phoebe, you’re not even wearing pants. You’ve got to wear pants.”  
Phoebe let out a long sigh but quickly ran upstairs to change, her twin sister, Daisy, following close behind.  
Having finished putting his shoes on, Louis padded into the kitchen in search of his other sisters. “Hey, Fizzy, you going with us?” he asked, approaching her.  
“Is Lottie going?” she asked, not bothering to turn from where she was standing by the fridge, staring aimlessly into it as if searching for the world’s secrets.  
Louis nodded before remembering that she couldn’t see him, and settled for a simple, “Mmhmm.”  
“Yeah, alright. Better than this,” she turned, grinning.  
At that moment, Phoebe and Daisy returned with Lottie in tow. “Right, everyone ready?” he asked, not bothering to wait for an answer before going to their patio door and stepping into their backyard. The Tomlinsons lived in a beach house overlooking the gorgeous sprawling ocean. It was a convenient location for building sandcastles, wading in the shallows, and - Louis’ favorite activity - surfing. Today they’d only be building sandcastles, however, because Louis didn’t trust himself to be able to watch the girls when he was on his board.  
“I’ll race ya!” Daisy called out, beginning to sprint as fast as she could to the edge of the water, Phoebe right behind her. Louis was never one to pass up the opportunity to win at anything, really, so he soon overtook them, but let them win at the last moment. By the time Lottie and Fizzy reached the beach, Louis and the twins were collapsed in the sand holding their sides doubled over in laughter.  
After that, they all calmed down and spent the next 30 minutes working on their sandcastle diligently, with Fizzy and Lottie occasionally venturing into the water. Eventually, the twins began to tire of the ‘quiet’ working and began pestering Louis to sing for them. Initially Louis just rolled his eyes, but he soon realized that they weren’t going to give up and gave in. “Fine, what do you want to sing?”  
The girls were quieted by his questions for a few seconds, thinking. They looked around as if searching for inspiration before realizing that they were literally right next to the ocean. “Oh!” they exclaimed at the same time. “Sing the Little Mermaid!”  
Louis didn’t bother to remind them that there wasn’t a song titled “the Little Mermaid”, and instead began to sing softly, coaxing the girls to join him.  
“Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat, wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete? Wouldn’t you think I’m the girl,” the girls giggled at Louis referring to himself as a ‘girl’. “The girl who has everything. Look at this trove, treasures untold. How many wonders can one cavern hold, looking around here you’d think: sure, she’s got everything. I’ve got gadgets and gizmos a plenty, I have who’s-its and what’s-its galore. You want thing-a-ma-bobs? I’ve got twenty. But who cares? No big deal. I want more…” At that point, the girls finally began singing along with him, having completely abandoned their work. Together they all sang the rest of the song, even Felicity and Lottie joining them. As they finished off the song, they all sat grinning at each other before Louis broke the moment by suddenly throwing Fizzy over his shoulder and carrying her to the edge of the sea. He stood for a moment, the water up to his waist, before yelling out “Timber!!!” and throwing her into the water. Knowing that he would be a great target for her when she came up, he attempted to back away. She thwarted his attempts by yanking his legs out from under him. When he came up from the ocean, spitting, the twins were laughing with Lottie from the safety of the beach.  
“Oi, you three are next!” Louis proclaimed before beginning to chase after his sisters, he and Felicity having formed a shaky alliance. The rest of the afternoon passed in a similar fashion, alternating from rough-housing to castle-building, until it was time for them to come in for dinner.  
“Did you girls have fun, today?” Johannah asked them when they all traipsed through the back door.  
“Yes!” the twins exclaimed in unison, jumping up and down before going into a long, drawn out explanation of their entire day. Louis just grinned as his mum began to help the girls change out of their dirty clothes, before yelling at Lottie and Fizzy to hurry in the loo so he could change, too.  
After they had all taken baths and changed into clean clothes, they reunited at the dinner table. Johannah sat at one end, and Louis at the other. The girls sat in twos on the remaining two sides, the twins sticking together like glue as always.  
They all made light, scattered conversation as they ate their food. “Food’s good, mum,” Louis said between bites, earning a simple ‘thank you’ paired with a grin from Johannah.  
When their meal had neared it’s end, Phoebe let out an excited, “oh!” before exchanging a look with Daisy.  
“Mummy, do mermaids exist?” Daisy asked, having understood Phoebe’s excitement.  
Johannah grinned, sending Louis a knowing look of amusement. “I don’t know, loves. I’ve never seen one. Why do you ask?”  
This time it was Phoebe that spoke up, “We saw one today! We were all running about and having fun and then we saw him! He left before we could show Louis, though,” they pouted. They knew that Lottie and Fizzy wouldn’t have believed them. Louis, at least, would humor them.  
Louis let out a small chuckle at the girls. _Children’s imaginations know no bounds_ , he mused to himself. He exchanged another look with his mum before turning to them. “I didn’t see it,” he pouted dramatically at them. “Oh well, I’ll be sure to be on the look out, tomorrow,” he promised, before standing and taking his plate to the sink.  
Louis began heading towards the stairs, only stopping to give his mum a quick explanation, “I’ve got a bit of coursework due Monday that I still need to do.” She nodded at him before engaging Lottie in a conversation about boys, no doubt. Louis rolled his eyes.

~~~

The following Monday, Louis was proud of having finished all of his assigned coursework, and was surprised to find that he understood what was being taught. _Well, that’s a pleasant surprise_ , he thought. _I should do my work more often!_  
After class he caught up with his friend Stan, joining him for a bite to eat. They chatted about upcoming exams (“We’ve got one month left and then we’ll be taking exams and then we’ll be done!”), and what they’d been up to since last week.  
Louis listened attentively to Stan’s account on why his newest girlfriend had broken up with him, before giving him a friendly pat on the back and expressing his sympathies. After that they were a bit quiet, delving into their food, before Louis remembered what Phoebe and Daisy had said earlier that week. Grinning, he put his fork down and wiped his mouth before speaking. “Mate, the other day the girls and I were out on the beach playing in the sand, and then at dinner, the twins told me they saw a _mermaid_ ,” he laughed fondly. “I reckon they’ve been watching The Little Mermaid too much.”  
Stan grinned a bit, but didn’t seem as charmed as Louis was by the twins’ silly comment. “You don’t believe it, do you?” he asked with a raised brow.  
Louis frowned, “No, I’m not an idiot. I just thought it was cute.”  
Having had his faith in Louis’ sanity restored, Stan chuckled and returned to his food, “Your sisters are certainly creative.”  
When they had finished their meal, the two of them returned to the University for Louis’ afternoon seminar, parting ways when they reached the campus. “I’m going out of town for the next few weeks,” Stan reminded him as they said their goodbyes. “I’ll be back in time for goodbyes. See you!” he pulled Louis in for a quick hug before turning and going toward his own class. Louis called out a ‘bye!’ and waved at his retreating form before continuing on with his day.

~~~

“Louis, you have to be the handsome prince, and Phoebe and I are the princesses!” Daisy exclaimed, excitedly handing Louis a toy teacup.  
Louis chuckled, “And which lucky princess gets to marry me?” he reached forward and poked each of their cheeks making them giggle.  
“Neither of us! We’re marrying each other!” Phoebe exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her sister in a close hug while Louis watched on, dumbstruck.

~~~

Louis didn’t think about the ‘mermaid’ again until that Wednesday, when he finally got a chance to do a bit of surfing. As he lay on his board, waiting for a wave, he thought of the twins’ wild story, and grinned. Just to amuse himself he began singing Part of Your World, by himself this time. As the sun reached it’s peak in the sky and began to make it’s way towards the west, Louis realized he had been singing the entire time he had been surfboarding - though the songs had changed every few minutes. As he resigned to heading in for the day he thought that he saw, for a split second, something glinting under the sun but after he blinked he realized there was nothing there. He shook his head at his dodgy eyesight.  
After he came back inside and had gotten cleaned up, Louis sat down at his computer and went in search of mermaid lore, hoping to give the twins something to talk about. He figured that he might as well humor them and let them believe what they wanted to believe. Soon an hour had passed and Louis was still sitting there, taking in all of the lore about the creatures. He found himself fascinated with the different theories and myths that he found. One site said that they were often thought to be foreshadowing of bad weather, and could even cause storms themselves. Another site said that occasionally they were said to have helped humans with things such as healing. His personal favorites were the ones that were too far fetched to possibly have a grain of truth. Some of them, though, almost seemed plausible and it sent shivers down Louis’ spine, such as one that claimed that those who died at sea became mermaids, themselves.  
That night at dinner, Louis didn’t tell the girls what he had read, as he originally planned to. Instead, he told them that he hadn’t seen any mermaids and that he suspected they were lying to him. They just grinned and promised that they weren’t. Somehow, Louis almost believed them.

~~~

“L-Louis?” came a voice from Louis’ door. It was pitch dark in his room, but he immediately identified the speaker as Lottie.  
“Yeah, love?” he called back, clearing his throat.  
“Can I sleep with you? I had a nightmare,” she sounded as if she had been - or still was - crying.  
“Of course,” Louis said, raising the sheets so she could crawl under them. As soon as she was nestled against him, he pulled the blankets back over them and pulled her against his chest, glad he had decided to wear sweatpants to bed that night. “Wanna tell me what it was about?” he asked tentatively, reaching a hand up to stroke her hair comfortingly.  
She hesitated for a while, and Louis almost thought that she was just going to ignore him, but at long last she spoke, “Er, yeah. Okay. It was… you were dead. You died and left us all alone. I…” a sob wracked her throat. “I didn’t know what to do.”  
“Hey,” Louis said, running a soothing hand down her arm. He began humming under his breath, waiting until she had calmed down before speaking, “I’m not going anywhere. And even if I did, you’d be okay. You’d have to be okay, for me, because I want you to be strong, yeah?” She nodded slowly, having calmed down under her brother’s touch. “But like I said, I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here. Go to sleep, love,” he said, settling his head into the pillow and closing his eyes. “I love you, Lottie.”  
“Love you, too,” she returned before sleep overtook them both.

~~~

Three days later found Louis once again at the beach. This time, however, he was enjoying lounging on a beach towel, soaking up the sun in hope of getting an even tan.  
As he lay, he tried to keep his eyes from venturing out to look at the sea - not because he was opposed to the waves, but because he was afraid his mind would play more tricks on him. He couldn’t help occasionally glancing, though, and was relieved to find only the waves lapping the shore each time he looked up from his phone, which he had brought with him. That is, until he looked up and saw a young man a bit down the way, laying across what appeared to be a surfboard. He was hanging over it so that Louis could only see his torso and up, and he appeared to be trying to catch some sun, himself. From this distance, Louis could barely make out what he looked like, and yet Louis knew that this man was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen. He had an almost eerie beauty to him that made Louis infinitely curious about the young man. Not wanting to appear creepy or invasive, Louis once again went back to looking at his phone, and when he looked back up, the man was gone.  
A bit puzzled, Louis looked around, startled that someone could get away so fast, but his efforts were fruitless. Shrugging, Louis determinedly went back to his phone where he was currently looking at tattoo designs and trying to decide what he would do next. His answer would come within the next few days.

~~~

“Oi, Lou, come in here!” Fizzy’s voice called from inside her room.  
Louis stood and walked from his room to hers, sitting down on the edge of her bed upon her invitation. “Yeah?”  
Fizzy looked like she was blushing almost, when she spoke, “Er, yeah. So you’re a boy… Do you think Jack likes me?” Louis’ eyes widened as she thrust her phone in his face, gesturing for him to read through their conversation. After about 10 minutes of scrolling through his sister's love life, Louis was sure of two things: 1) this guy was definitely hitting on Felicity and 2) he was going to punch this guy in the face. “So?” she asked, breaking through his thoughts.  
“Er, yeah. I think he likes you. But this guy’s bad news, Fizzy.” Louis frowned at her. She just rolled her eyes and laughed at him.  
“April fools, you dork.”

~~~

After the afternoon with the girls that had begun it all, Louis had taken to singing everytime he came to the beach. That’s why on Friday, when Louis made his way to the waves - surfboard in hand - he could be heard singing ‘Fathoms Below’ from the Little Mermaid. He walked to the beach and went through the routines of straddling his board in the water and putting a bit of distance between himself and the shore, and that’s why he didn’t immediately notice that he wasn’t alone. When he finally noticed the boy currently laying over the side of his board so that only his torso was visible, he nearly fell of his board from shock. It took him all of two seconds to realize that this was the young man from Wednesday, and he was even more beautiful up close. His skin had a shimmering quality about it...it was almost as if he was _glowing_. He had curly brown locks that were pushed out of his face, and he had several tattoos scattered across his arms and chest. The tattoo that stuck out to him immediately was the anchor on his wrist, that he could see clearly from the way the man’s hands were folded in front of him.  
After regaining his balance on the board, Louis opened his mouth to speak but was suddenly at a loss for words.  
“Oops,” the man said, as if to apologize for startling Louis.  
“Hi,” Louis said. He immediately had to stifle the urge to hit himself in the face. _‘hi’, seriously? That’s the most lame response I’ve ever…_ The other man seemed to find it humorous, however, because he grinned in response.  
“Er, sorry, I’m Harry,” he introduced himself, smiling wide. Oh lord, he’s got dimples. Louis was a goner.  
“I’m Louis,” he seemed to have regained the ability to speak, at least. “I don’t believe we’ve met, and I’m here nearly everyday; I live just up there,” he gestured towards his house.  
Harry nodded, grinning, before speaking. “Yeah, I come here quite a bit, as well. I’ve seen you, but never thought to introduce myself.” Louis nearly fainted when he really heard Harry speak; the curly haired boy’s voice was deep and slow, and he couldn’t imagine what the boy would sound like if he sang. Speaking of singing, “Er- I’ve heard you singing, actually. You’re really good,” he blushed.  
Louis’ matching blush could’ve put a tomato to shame, and he ducked his head into his hands to hide it. “Um, thank you. I don’t think I’m that good, but thanks…” he looked up at Harry cautiously to see the other boy grinning at him, his dimple prominent on his face. “So, how come I haven’t seen you around here? If you come here as much as you say.”  
Harry hesitated for only half a second before flashing Louis a killer smile that Louis was quite sure could seduce anyone that Harry set it on. “I’m a mermaid,” he said simply, grinning at Louis almost as if he was in on some secret of his own.  
Louis laughed before cocking his head at Harry and saying, “Have you been talking to my sisters?”  
That question seemed to stump Harry, and he gave Louis an adorably confused look, his lower lip jutting out as if he were pouting. “Your sisters?”  
“Yeah, my two younger sisters. The twins,” Louis said in explanation. When no look of recognition flitted across Harry’s face, Louis frowned, confused. “You haven’t been talking to them?”  
Harry shook his head and looked about to say something when suddenly they heard the notes of music coming from the beach. Louis quickly realized that it was his ringtone, and then he remembered what his ringtone was and found himself infinitely embarrassed.  
“There you see her, sitting there across the way. She don’t got a lot to say but there’s something about her. And you don’t know why but you’re dying to try, you wanna kiss the girl…” Louis turned toward the beach trying to remember where he had even placed his phone, before turning back with intentions to say goodbye to Harry. Before the words could leave his mouth, however, he realized that Harry had completely disappeared, his surfboard gone with him.  
“I knew I was high, but I didn’t realize I was _that_ high,” Louis said to himself as he began paddling the board back to shore. He checked the missed calls and saw that it had just been a telemarketer; not even worth coming all the way back for.  
After that, Louis actually got around to surfing, but the entire time all he could think was that maybe the twins weren’t as far off as Louis had originally thought they were.

~~~

After that, when Louis went to the beach he was always on the lookout for Harry, but he didn’t see him again until a week later, and even then he didn’t know if he was actually seeing Harry. It was a great day for surfing; the weather was great, and the waves were insane. Louis was on a particularly large wave when he lost his balance and went tumbling off his board. He usually closed his eyes when he went under, but this time Louis just had this _feeling_ and he opened them and nearly had a heart attack. Several meters away was a huge fish, probably longer than Louis was tall, and it’s tail was the creepiest thing Louis had ever seen in his life. The scales were weathered as if they had been around for much longer than fish should live. The edges of it’s fins, thin and webbed, were frayed and tattered with age and wear. And it wasn’t a fishy color it was an age-ridden gray. Louis nearly pissed his pants, and yet something about the fish was _beautiful_. He couldn’t see it’s head, and was soon out of sight, having darted behind a large group of seaweed. But for the split second he had been able to see it turning, he could’ve sworn he saw a human. His mind produced one word for him: _Harry_. He immediately shook of the idea, refusing to believe in such nonsense as mermaids.  
This all happened in a matter of seconds before Louis’ head was breaching the surface and he was frantically gasping for breath. He quickly climbed aboard his surfboard and made his way to the shore, walking on shaking legs all the way to his porch, where he collapsed in a lawn chair and fell asleep for who knows how long. When he woke again, it was pretty easy to convince himself that he had smoked a joint and forgotten about it, but still been high enough to hallucinate… _Yeah, that’s what happened_.

~~~

 

That night dinner was an ordinary affair; the twins told animated accounts of their day while Felicity made a few offhand comments about the boy she currently fancied, and Lottie made sarcastic comments directed at Louis. Johannah just grinned at her children silently, preferring to listen to them all talk about things that were important to them. When Lottie had a coughing fit they all ran to help her, but brushed it off afterwards as just choking on a piece of food. Nobody mentioned that it was the third coughing fit she’d had that day.  
Nobody mentioned it when she had three more before the day was over.  
It wasn’t until the next day that they finally recognized that she was sick - really sick. Johannah finally decided she’d had enough and loaded Lottie into the car, instructing Louis to stay home with the other girls so that she could take Lottie to the hospital. He spent the day half-heartedly playing with his other sisters and trying to reassure himself that Lottie would be okay. At 9pm, Johannah called him to report, “It’s pneumonia,” she said, and Louis’ already deep frown deepened even more. “The doctor says it’s pretty bad, but we shouldn’t give up on her. It’ll all depend on if she can make it through the night,” Louis could tell that his mum was purposefully keeping the emotion out of her voice for fear of scaring Lottie with how serious it was. “Put the girls to bed, and then go to bed yourself, young man,” she instructed. Louis agreed, muttering a ‘love you’ before hanging up and making the girls all go to sleep. The twins made him read them a story, and he managed to do so without breaking down in their bed.  
It wasn’t until he was in his own room that he began crying, and he couldn’t control the sobs, so he stifled them into his pillow. As he lay there, fearing for his sister’s life, he remembered something he had read. “Mermaids could occasionally be more beneficial,” he said, suddenly, shooting from his pillow as he remembered the words he had read weeks ago. “Teaching humans cures! Shit!” he jumped from his bed and threw on a T-shirt and swim trunks.  
He made his way out of the house quietly, taking his phone with him just in case. When he stepped onto the patio, he was shocked to find himself in the middle of what seemed to be a hurricane. “What the hell?” he said, his voice lost on the wind. Determined, he began fighting the wind to get to the beach, aware of how stupid he was being, but willing to do anything for Lottie. As he go to the edge of the water he tossed his phone onto the sand and threw his shirt along with it, before wading into the water, now fighting the current and the wind. He managed to get to where the water was up to his chest before he lost control. He still had fight in him, though, and he was able to swim further from the shore, ducking under the waves to look for the tell-tale fins once again.  
The storm had been going steadily for several minutes, but suddenly there was a large clap of thunder and everything lost control. Louis suddenly found himself pulled underwater by the intense current and he found that he couldn’t remember which way was up. He fought to reach the surface again but his fighting was in vain, and the current won out. As his body began to sink slowly downward - and drift out with the current - Louis’ last thought was that at least he had tried to save Lottie. At least he had had the chance to tell her that if he died, he’d want her to live on.  
 _Maybe I'll become a mermaid._  
And then everything blacked out.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis gets used to mermaid living, and all that comes with it; including Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know I just posted the first part yesterday, but since this is done, I thought I'd go ahead and post!! I'm nearly done with the third part already, so expect that within a few days! Thanks again to tumblr user koalicorn for being my beta/editor!! And be sure to like, comment, and follow me on tumblr @ haroldarlin!! :) enjoy xx

When Louis came to he was aware of several things all at once. First was the strange feeling in his legs; second was that he was still underwater. Third was that he was currently being watched worriedly by none other than Harry.

As soon as Harry noticed that he was awake, he came closer to inspect Louis as if he thought Louis would die at any moment, “Louis, you’re awake! Er, how do you feel?” Harry asked, swimming circles around Louis looking for bruises.

...Wait. _Swimming?_

“The fuck?!” Louis spluttered, having finally processed what he was seeing. “We’re underwater, you’re most definitely a mermaid, and how am I alive right now?” He sat up quickly causing himself to have a headrush. He slowly lowered himself back to laying on the soft floor of what appeared to be a cave, his head in his hands.

“Yeah, I wasn’t kidding when I said I was a mermaid,” Harry said, having calmed down enough to float just a bit to Louis’ right, his immense tail floating behind him. _Holy shit, it’s that tail. I guess I wasn’t as high as I thought…_ “I guess I should explain.” Harry grinned a bit timidly, his dimple appearing suddenly causing Louis’ heart to stutter in his chest. _Not now_ he instructed his butterflies. “So, when somebody dies at sea, they become a mermaid. Mermaids are real, and all that. And uh…” Harry cleared his throat, gesturing to Louis’ _fin_. “You sorta died. There was a really bad storm and…” he gulped, not sure how to tell Louis what happened, settling for a crude gesture to his throat.

“Right,” Louis nodded weakly. He finally chanced a glance at his tail and was stunned speechless by it’s beautiful blue and golden scales that flowed together gorgeously. “Shit,” he swore, still in a bit of a shocked state. “But why’re our tails so different?”

Harry seemed a bit confused that Louis had just completely bypassed the major matter at hand, but seemed relieved that he wouldn’t have to deal with Louis getting mad at him or something else equally daunting. “Well, mermaids are immortal so our human aspects stay young forever, but our scales show wear and age as the years count up. You’re a new mermaid so your tail is at its youngest.”

“Oh.” Louis thought for a moment before shrugging it off and deciding to focus on more important matters. “How long was I out?”

“I sort of lost track of time, but I think it was a few days,” Harry said after only a moment’s hesitation. His voice was as deep and slow as ever, but underwater it had an almost musical quality to it.

“Oh, wow. I don’t suppose you know anything about my sister? How is she?” Louis asked, his words getting more frantic as he remembered what had led him to this situation.

Harry was nodding before Louis had even finished the question, “I don’t know for sure because I can’t go ashore, obviously, but I managed to catch your mom on the phone in your yard. Sounds like your sister’s fine, but they don’t know what happened to you. They’re hoping you just ran away without your phone and shirt, but they fear that you…” he trailed off.

“Dead, yeah. Thank you, Harry. Why’re you giving me that look?” Harry had been frowning, his eyebrows creased worriedly for several minutes.

“It’s just, I figured you’d freak out or something, I mean you just found out you’re going to be a mermaid for the rest of eternity,” as if to illustrate his point, Harry fins twitched in Louis’ direction. They were just as old and tattered as he remembered them, and for some reason it was still the most beautiful thing Louis had ever seen.

“Don’t worry, the meltdown will come later, after I’ve had a chance to process this. So, do you live here?” he looked around the small cave and tried not to look too unimpressed.

That got a laugh out of Harry, and it was the best sound Louis had ever heard. It was halfway between a musical sort of sound and an almost gaffaw. Harry’s dimples were the center of Louis’ universe. _I’ve only just met the dude a few days ago!_

“No, I just needed somewhere safe to take you until you came to. I live in what you could call ‘Atlantis’, I suppose. I’ll take you there whenever you’ve regained enough strength to travel.”

Louis’ eyes widened at Harry’s mention of Atlantis. It suddenly hit him that he was practically living in the Little Mermaid and he laughed incredulously. “Bloody hell, mate. There isn’t some catch to this mermaid thing, is there? Like, Ursula isn’t gonna come take my voice, is she?”

Harry didn’t seem to understand the reference, and just stared at Louis with his eyes furrowed. After a few seconds Louis realized this and just shook his head, waving a hand with a quiet “Nevermind.” Harry shrugged before moving to feel Louis’ forehead. “So, how am I? I’m going to be alright, yeah?”

The curly haired mermaid nodded, grinning at Louis, “Yeah you’ll be fine. Your body just needs to rest a bit longer in order to recover from regenerating a fin, and your throat will probably be sore for a few days while you get used to the gills, but you’ll be fine.”

Louis’ eyes widened. _Gills??_ At this point he noticed that Harry did indeed have small indiscreet gills on his neck. His hands flew to his own throat where he could feel a set of gills. So that solves the breathing underwater mystery. “Er, you didn’t have those before?” Louis prompted, pointing at Harry’s gills, confused.

“Yeah, well they retract when you’re above water. We’re still half human so we do have the ability to breath like humans.” After that, though, Harry looked out the entrance to the cave to where it was getting noticeably darker. Louis was struck with how everything seemed bright enough down here to be day and night, when his human eyes would’ve found everything to be too dark. “Anyway, it’s getting late. You should go back to sleep; you should be strong enough to travel in the morning, but only if you’ve had a full night’s rest,” Harry instructed Louis, turning back to him and smiling slightly at him. “I’m gonna sleep right here, as well, if that’s alright. I’m knackered.”

Louis nodded quickly, “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll try to sleep…” He was never the best at falling asleep on command - he was probably a bit of an insomniac - but for some reason Louis always fell asleep a bit faster when he was with someone else, especially when he was away from home.

Harry nodded, sinking down to lay next to him. After a moment’s hesitation, Louis rolled onto his side, threw an arm over Harry’s torso, and lay his head on the other lad’s chest. After that they were both asleep in seconds, neither noticing the matching blushes they were both sporting.

 

~~~

 

The following morning, Louis woke up to the sound of someone near him swearing. His first thought was that he needed to watch his mouth more around the girls. Then everything came flooding back to him - no pun intended - from the day before, and he shot upright, looking around as if to ensure he wasn’t going crazy. He was greeted with the sight of Harry a few feet away from him clutching his hand to his chest. Harry looked at Louis with wide, concerned eyes, and Louis remembered that he had just sat up suddenly with what was probably a very wild look in his eyes. “Oh, sorry,” Louis said. “I forgot, and then…” he shrugged.

Harry nodded, “Yeah, it’s fine. Er, sorry for waking you up. I fell and hit my hand on a sharp rock,” he gestured towards where his hand was bleeding, the blood spreading away from him in almost satiny strips.

“...You fell over? But we’re underwater. We’re floating. You don’t have legs,” to say that the new mermaid was confused was an understatement.

“Er, yeah. I was always a pretty clumsy human. I guess it just transferred over… I’m pretty good at falling over, even if we are underwater,” he shrugged and grinned bashfully, his dimples sending shivers down Louis’ spine as he watched the gorgeous boy.

“Right,” he chuckled. “Well, hopefully I won’t have that problem. Speaking of, are we ready to go?”

Harry gave his hand another look before pressing his other hand to the wound. His hands seem to give off a dull glow, before he pulled his hand off. The wound was gone; Louis gasped. Before he could say something, however, Harry spoke, “I should mention that we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves, including that. I’ll teach you more, later. Right now, you’re ready to go, and we should get out of here before a shark shows up… I let myself bleed longer than I should’ve,” Harry grimaced and shrugged. He moved closer to Louis and offered him a hand to help him move to more of a standing position.

Louis took his hand, and pulled himself up, taking a few seconds to get used to the movement of his fin. Swimming seemed to be an instinct, though, so he was soon able to swim quite well, if he said so himself - which he did. Harry chuckled before tugging by the hand and leading him out of the caves mouth.

As soon as they were in open water, Louis gasped. “It’s beautiful…” he looked around in awe, allowing himself to be pulled along by Harry.

Harry didn’t respond, only glanced at Louis with a fond smile.

Louis was suddenly taken by the desire to sing, curious as to what it would sound like underwater. He began to hum the opening to “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid, beginning to sing when Sebastian would’ve sang. “The seaweed is always greener in somebody else’s lake. You dream about going up there, but that is a big mistake. Just look at the world around you, right here on the ocean floor. Such wonderful things surround you, what more are you looking for?” He continued on to the chorus, offhandedly noticing the way Harry was staring at him with wide eyes, grinning almost incredulously.

When he finished he turned to Harry and immediately blushed at the bright smile he was receiving. “What? Have I got something on my face?”

Harry just grinned, “You sounded great before, but now... _amazing._ ”

Blushing, Louis ducked his head. “Wait, what do you mean before?” It took a few seconds for it to click in Louis’ head before he turned to Harry a large teasing smile on his face. “Have you been listening to me sing? Is that why I kept seeing you?”

This time it was Harry’s turn to duck his head and blush, “Er, yeah. I heard you, once, with your sisters. And after that it seemed like you just kept singing every time you were out there… I couldn’t stay away…” He frowned, then, and Louis got the sense he was missing something. He also got the sense that Harry wouldn’t tell him what he was missing if he asked, so he let it go.

“So how close are we to Atlantis?” he asked after a few moments of silently watching Harry. He couldn’t get over how beautiful the other boy was.

Harry chuckled and rolled his eyes, “It’s not actually called Atlantis. It’s...actually it doesn’t really have a name, we all just refer to it as...Atlantis,” he frowned annoyedly at Louis. “You win this round,” he seemed about to tack on Louis’ last name, and it hit Louis that Harry didn’t know his last name.

“Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson.”

“Right, you win this round, Tomlinson. And I’m Harry Styles,” he added. His right hand twitched forward as if he was going to go for a handshake but he decided against it when he realized he’d have to let go of Louis’ hand.

“Glad to have met you, Harry,” Louis said earnestly. “So, you didn’t tell me how far away we are from Atlantis.”

“Well, we were pretty far away, but you sang through most of the journey, so we’re almost there. You’ll start seeing other merpeople soon.” Harry grinned at him before, acting off of instinct, he pulled Louis by their joined hands into a close hug. It was short but when they pulled away, they were both grinning from ear to ear.

Harry was right, soon they started to see signs of life. There seemed to be an increase in the fish they saw, and the ones they saw were all brightly colored. And then at last they saw the first merperson they had seen all day. He wasn’t particularly impressive - he was just like a normal human apart from his dark blue tailfin - but Louis couldn’t help but staring in awe. “Hiya, Luke,” Harry called out to him, earning a returning grin and wave as they passed. After that they began to see even more merpeople in groups of two and three, usually. Louis was impressed by each one, and yet he didn’t think any of them were quite as impressive as Harry.

At long last, they approached Atlantis, and they could see golden gates ahead of them. The gates were open so that people could come and go as they pleased. As they entered the city, Harry slowed their pace so that Louis could take everything in. They passed houses and shops and everything else you could possibly imagine in a city. There were merpeople of all shapes and sizes, colors and sexes. Louis tried his best to take in everything, but he knew he’d have more chances to explore later. At long last, Harry stopped them in front of a bluish house. “Here we are,” Harry said, extending an arm like a game show host. “My humble abode.”

Louis grinned, “Are you sure you live here? I was beginning to think you were homeless.”

Harry just rolled his eyes before pulling Louis forward and into the home. “I share it with my flatmate, Zayn. And in turn, his girlfriend, Perrie, practically lives with us. And now you will, too.” Harry grinned before his eyes widened, “I mean, you will if you want! If you don’t want to stay, you can go somewhere else, I suppose, I just thought, I mean-”

Louis interrupted him by placing a hand over his mouth. “Yeah, I’ll stay here. Got nowhere else to go, anyway, do I? Always wanted a flatmate,” he grinned.

Harry’s relieved grin lit up his face and made Louis want to capture this moment to remember for all of eternity. “Really? Alright. You can room with me, if you want. We’ll have to get you your own ‘bed’, but for now you’ll just have to sleep with me, if that’s okay.”

Louis nodded, “That sounds fine. You don’t even have to get me my own, if you don’t want to. I don’t mind sharing.” It took Louis a second to realize the connotation the words brought, and then he blushed. “Er, that sounded weird, but you know what I mean.”

Harry nodded, grinning, “Yeah. Anyway, let me take you on the grand tour.”

The house was small, a small sitting room and kitchen were joined together with the two bedrooms branching off that. The kitchen only had the bare basics since there wasn’t electricity under water. The last thing Harry showed them was their room. Their beds weren’t like normal beds, instead they seemed to be some type of underwater plant life that was cushioned to the touch. Of course, blankets would be useless so they didn’t have those either. After Louis had gone over to touch the bed cautiously, he sat down on it. “It’s all really nice,” he said, smiling at Harry from his perch on the ‘bed’.

Harry grinned back at him, “I’m glad you like it. Make yourself at home, and what’s ours is yours.”

Zayn and Perrie were out in the city somewhere, so Harry and Louis had a few hours to themselves, which they spent talking about what being a merperson was like, and what life underwater would entail.

They were interrupted from a riveting conversation on tailfin variation by the sound of Zayn and Perrie returning home. Perrie’s tailfin was long - one of the longest Louis had seen - and it was a bright purple color that fit her perfectly. Zayn’s, on the other hand, was pitch black just like his hair. Louis suspected it had something to do with age, like Harry’s did. His mouth fell slightly open as he admired their fins, but he quickly closed it before they noticed. They swam into the room but stopped when they saw Louis and gave Harry a questioning glance.

“Oh, right. This is Louis. Louis, this is Zayn and Perrie,” he gestured to them each in turn.

“Nice to meet you, Louis said embarrassedly, moving forward to offer his hand in a hand shake.

“Oh, Louis!” Zayn said, giving Louis a small, polite grin, and coming forward to shake his outstretched hand. “I’ve heard all about you, mate. Good to finally meet you.”

“Yeah, same for me,” Perrie said, shooting him a large smile. She shook his hand, as well, before chuckling, “But in all of Harry’s stories you’re a human.”

Louis blushed at the attention, “Yeah, I was. But I’m not anymore, obviously,” he gestured to his own tailfin. He still couldn’t get over how beautiful it was, and from the way Harry always looked at it, he thought Harry felt the same.

Speaking of Harry, the curly-haired lad was currently blushing like mad, embarrassed to have been outing for talking about Louis all the time, even if Louis had dismissed the fact.

“Obviously,” Perrie chuckled at him. “I take it you died, but I won’t pry. Anyway, Zayn and I are only here for a few seconds, and then we’ve got places to be. Lucky Harry has you, or else we would’ve made him tag along.”

At this Harry grinned, relieved. “Yeah, good thing, too. These two are like a sickeningly sweet old married couple. It’s gross.”

Zayn just rolled his eyes and smacked Harry on the head on his way out, Perrie right behind him. She shot them a grin before closing the door behind her, careful to keep her tailfin from getting caught.

After they were gone, Harry and Louis sat in comfortable silence for a few seconds, each taking secretive glances at each other when they think the other isn’t looking. At long last, Louis spoke, reaching a hand forward to tentatively touch the rough gray scales of Harry’s fin. “So why’s yours so…” he couldn’t think of a polite word to describe Harry’s tail, which was so beautiful and yet terrifying.

“Old? Creepy?” Harry grinned, completely knowing what Louis meant. “Well, we’re immortal, so our human bits don’t age, but our fish bits do. That’s why yours is so beautiful and new...It’s honestly breathtaking, Lou.”

Louis blushed, “Thanks. Yours is too, even if it is a bit creepy. But you’re not creepy, so maybe your beauty just extends outward to it. Er-” Louis buried his face in his hand, embarrassed that he had spoken that out loud.

Harry just laughed, “I don’t think that’s how it works, but thank you. You’re gorgeous, too, you know. And your fin makes your eyes look really blue.” Harry’s dimple was mocking Louis with how fucking adorable Harry was.

Louis’ blush only deepened with Harry’s words, and he swore his heart skipped a beat - or several beats - in his chest. He didn’t realize he was still softly stroking the scales on Harry’s fin until Harry’s eyes fluttered shut and he seemed to push his fin a little bit closer to Louis’ hand. Louis hesitated a moment, unsure of what to do, before murmuring, “Does that feel good?”

Harry just nodded, his eyes still shut, while Louis continued doing what he was doing. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Harry opened his eyes suddenly. Louis did a double take when he realized how huge Harry’s pupils were, before his hand stilled on Harry’s tailfin, suddenly aware of how close their faces were. His own eyes fluttered half shut as he began to lean in, Harry mirroring his movements.

They were suddenly interrupted by a loud noise outside followed by a shouted, “The fuck!?” Harry and Louis shot apart from where they had been millimeters away from kissing, both of them blushing heavily. “Er, I’ll go see what it is!” Louis declared, swimming to the door and exiting unceremoniously. Once outside he immediately saw what had made the noise: It was two mermen roughhousing just outside the house. One of them was small with blonde hair and a dark orange tail, and the other was a bit larger with both brown hair and a brown tailfin. The larger one’s fin seemed more similar to Perrie’s long, never-ending tailfin, whereas the smaller’s reminded Louis of The Little Mermaid.

“Um, hello?” Louis said hesitantly, interrupting them from where the large one currently had the blonde one in a headlock.

“Oh, sorry!” The brunette immediately apologized, releasing the blonde as he rushed to shake Louis’ hand. “I’m Liam. This is Niall.” Niall took Louis’ hand in turn with a friendly hello, before they looked at Louis in question.

“Oh, right. I’m Louis. Nice to meet you. Er- what’re you doing?”

“Sorry, I’m trying to get Niall to come finish his fucking vegetables. He won’t come back to our house, though, and he promised he’d eat them if I let him have work off.”

Niall rolled his eyes, “He made me promise to eat whatever he made me without complaint, but then he gave me _seaweed._ Seaweed is fuckin’ disgusting, mate!” Niall had a distinct Irish accent, and Louis could already tell he liked these two.

“I’ve never had seaweed, to tell the truth, so I couldn’t really say, one way or another,” Louis admitted.

Liam’s eyes widened almost comically. “You’ve never had seaweed?? Have you been living under a rock?!” Niall, on the other hand, looked envious of Louis’ ignorance.

“No, actually, I’ve been living on the surface. This is sorta my first day as a mermaid.”

This time it was Niall’s turn to look shocked. “It’s your first day? How’d you find us so fast, then? Usually takes people a while to figure things out and find civilization.”

Louis then explained to them that Harry had helped them while they nodded to show that they were listening. After he was done, Liam said, “I reckon I’ve seen him around. Seems like an alright guy. I’ve never spoken to him before, though…” He thought for a minute before seeming to remember the most important thing: seaweed. “But seaweed, you haven’t had seaweed! We’ve got to fix this wrong. Come with us, Louis, you’ve got to try the seaweed.” Liam turned and began swimming away but Niall waited for Louis to follow.

“Hold on,” Louis said, before opening the door and peaking inside. He could see Harry sitting just where he had been when he’d left, watching the door as if waiting for Louis. “Hey, d’you mind if I go somewhere? I just met these guys, Niall and Liam, and they want me to try some seaweed. I’ll be back within the hour. You could come, too, if you want.”

Harry smiled at him before shaking his head, “I’ll stay here, but you can go. I’m not your mother, you can do whatever you want.”

Louis shot him a grin, his eyes crinkling, before saying, “Thanks, Haz! See you later!” Closing the door carefully, Louis turned to Niall, immediately following Niall to where Liam was waiting for them outside an orange home down the street.

“Welcome t’ our hood,” Niall said, swimming in ahead of them and throwing up a peace sign. Liam just rolled his eyes at his blonde friend, leading them to their kitchen. It was the same size as Harry’s, except it looked like it’d been used less.

Liam retrieved a plate of something strange and green and sat it on the counter in front of Niall and Louis. “Seaweed. Eat up, boys!”

Niall and Louis shared a distasteful look before reluctantly taking a bite. Louis wasn’t sure why Niall was being so hesitant - he had had it before and knew what it tasted like, whereas Louis didn’t - but it all became clear when he took a bite. “Blergh! That’s bloody disgusting!” Louis swallowed quickly and attempted to wipe the taste from his tongue, his nose scrunched disgustedly.

“Told you!” Niall shouted to Liam, putting the rest of his piece down in a refusal to eat it.

Liam just rolled his eyes at them before waving them off with a grunted “fine.”

The let out whoops as they fled from the kitchen, going to sit in the living room. After that Louis spent the afternoon sitting with the two of them, all of them telling stories and getting to know each other. Soon, however, it started to get dark and Louis knew he should get home. He was suddenly struck with the fact that he had no idea how to get back.

“Er, I don’t suppose you could escort me back? I sort of forgot where I live…”

Niall laughed at him while Liam nodded, before they all swam companionably back to Harry and Zayn’s house.

“Well, boys, I hope to see you both again,” Louis said in farewell as they stood in front of the blue house.

“Yeah, we’ll have t’ hang out! Invite your buddy Harry next time!” Niall suggested, and Liam nodded his head in agreement.

“Alright. Well, see you!” Louis grinning and entering the house after the two of them affirmed their farewell.

When he entered, Louis was greeted with the sight of Harry lifting weights, his muscles flexing obscenely. “Hey,” Louis said, his voice a few octaves too high. He cleared his throat and tried again, “Hey.” This time his voice was lower, perhaps a bit lower than usual, but it would pass.

Harry just grinned at him, not stopping what he was doing. “Hey. Did you have fun?”

Louis grinned and nodded, “Yeah, Liam and Niall are really cool. I told them they’d have to hang out with us some time. You’d probably like them.”

“Cool,” Harry grinned at him. Suddenly his smile widened exponentially and his eyes twinkled with excitement, “Hey! D’you want to hear a joke?”

Louis loved laughing, and he loved jokes, so he nodded excitedly, coming and floating to a sort of sitting position on the floor by Harry. “Yeah. Let’s hear it, then!”

“Why did that baboon say to the giraffe, ‘Why the long face?’” Harry’s smile was huge as he waited to tell the punchline of his joke.

Louis thought for a second but couldn’t think of where this joke could go. “Er, I dunno. Why?”

“...Because he thought his neck was his face!” At that Harry let out a loud guffaw at his own joke, slapping a hand down on his lap and throwing his head back as his laughs ripped through him.

“What the fuck, Harold, that was the worst joke I’ve ever heard!” And yet, Louis was grinning at Harry, endeared at how much excitement Harry got out of the stupid joke.

Harry immediately pouted at Louis, giving him large puppy eyes that made Louis want to feed his eyes to a rabid seaurchin or something similar, just so he could never be tortured with how _fucking adorable_ Harry was. “Louuuuu,” Harry whined, jutting his lower lip farther out. “It was a really brilliant joke. I’ve got more if you want to hear!”

Louis shook his head quickly, “Hazza, that was the best joke I’ve ever heard, but you can’t overwhelm me with too many jokes. Save them for a rainy day or summat, yeah?” He wasn’t sure where the nickname came from, as it was the second time he’d used it, but both times Harry’s face had lit up in response, so Louis decided he’d keep it.

“Fiiiiiine,” Harry whined again, rolling his eyes exasperatedly.

Louis just grinned before looking around the room curiously. “Hey! I just realized what you’re missing: TV! You don’t have TV or internet down here! I mean, it makes sense since we’re underwater, but it’s rather unfortunate, innit? No wonder you haven’t understood my Little Mermaid references.”

Harry looked a bit regretful when Louis finished, “Yeah, no electricity. Only thing I miss about being human, to be honest. And TV’s had only just been invented when I died… I can’t imagine how much better they are, now…” Harry sighed.

Frowning, Louis pulled Harry in for a hug. “Well, now you’ve got me, and I’m better than TV. I’ll act every TV show ever for you. I’ll even made my own. Yeah?” Louis grinned, pulling back to look at Harry. They both grinned at each other sadly before something Harry had said clicked in Louis’ head. “Wait. They had just been invented?”

“Yeah, I was around in the late ‘30’s before I was…before I died.” Louis could tell that Harry wouldn’t say anything else, so he let it drop.

“Alright. Well, I need to educate you on the Little Mermaid, so sit down and get ready to be educated!”

Three hours later, Louis had finally finished acting out the entirety of the Little Mermaid for Harry, and afterwards he had taught Harry all the songs. They were laughing gleefully in the main room when Zayn and Perrie got back.

“Oi, what’re you too so happy about?” Zayn said immediately, suspicion knitting his eyebrows together. Perrie rolled her eyes from behind him.

“I was just telling Hazza here all about The Little Mermaid!” Louis grinned, while Harry blushed and pushed his head into Louis’ hand where it was currently brushing through Harry’s curls.

“Oh, I loved that movie!” Perrie said happily, swimming forward to lay on the ground in front of them, grinning. Louis didn’t want to pry into everyone’s lives, but from the color of Perrie’s tail and the way she did her hair, Louis suspected she was from about the same time as him, suggesting that she had died recently, as well. Zayn he wasn’t sure about, though.

After that, they all ate dinner together - just fish and vegetables - while they chatted and told embarrassing stories about each other. Luckily they had next to nothing on Louis so he was able to laugh, and not be laughed at.

Soon, though, the night came strong, and they all decided to settle in. Louis took up his spot draped across Harry’s chest like he had the night before, and soon everyone fell into a fitful sleep. It was the second night of the best sleep Harry had ever had.

 

~~~

 

The next few weeks passed quickly, time blurring as they were all caught up in the excitement of having a new housemate. At first Harry and Louis would stick to each other like glue, occasionally inviting Zayn and Perrie to join them. After a few days of that, however, Louis ran into Liam and Niall when he was out with Harry, and he invited them to join them. After that, the two became a permanent part of their group, and the six of them became tighter than ever. Occasionally Perrie would invite her own friends over creating a group of 9. Those fewweeks were, admittedly, the best few weeks of Louis’ life, and he had a feeling that Harry felt the same way.

The next time Harry and Louis almost kissed was a warm Sunday afternoon. Everyone had work that day except for Harry and Zayn - and Louis hadn’t actually gotten a job yet - so they were all chilling at their flat. Zayn had just left to run an errand, and left the other two alone.

They were sat in the main room telling dumb stories when Harry decided it was time for another joke. “Lou, I’ve got a joke for you!” he said, excitedly.

Louis just rolled his eyes and groaned, “Fine, what is it?”

“Knock knock!”

“Who’s there?”

“Lil old lady.”

“Lil old lady who?”

“Why, Louis! I didn’t know you could yodel!” And then Harry let out a proper guffaw while Louis grimaced at the _truly shitty_ joke, before grinning reluctantly; Harry's smile was contagious. He couldn't help but to just stare at the other lad while he laughed, and in that moment he had never felt so in love. Harry had stopped laughing, finally, and was instead staring straight back at Louis.

Louis' eyes flickered down to look at Harry's lips before looking back up to see that Harry had done the same. Hesitantly, Louis started to lean forward, his eyes drifting shut when Harry copied his movement. Their lips were mere millimeters apart and Louis could feel Harry's breath on his. Taking a final breath, Louis went to surge across the distance when the door flew open and Zayn entered. Louis and Harry flung themselves apart, the former landing against the wall and sinking downwards, while the latter managed to float across the room.

Zayn gave then a weird look before shrugging and going into his and Perrie's room. Louis chanced a glance at Harry, their eyes making contact, before they both burst into laughter. Every few seconds they would calm down, look at each other, and burst out laughing again. It took the arrival of Niall, Liam, and Perrie for them to truly calm down. After that, the evening was spent joking and goofing off, everyone enjoying a proper laugh with their friends.

Later that night, after everyone had left, Louis had a chance to think while he was laying in bed with harry, waiting to fall asleep. He was a bit disappointed that he and Harry hadn't kissed. And he was pretty sure Harry was, too.

 

~~~

 

So maybe Louis was trying to avoid thinking about his family. And maybe it wasn’t working.

It’s just, they had to have realized that he was dead; it’d been 4 weeks. They’d have stopped looking, and they’d be in the midst of mourning. There was no way Louis could interrupt that. Because, if he _did_ reveal the fact that _‘hey, I’m alive!’_ it would just make it harder for them to let go. And as the years passed, he wouldn’t age with them. Eventually, they would die, and he would be left behind.

In conclusion, letting them believe he was dead was the proper choice, and it was a choice Louis was going to go through with. But that didn’t keep him from worrying about them, wondering if Lottie was alright. If Lottie had died, he couldn’t imagine what his mum must’ve gone through that night. Louis needed to know what became of his family, and he was determined to find out.

These were the thoughts running through his mind as he swam through the house in search of his curly-haired friend. It wasn’t hard to find him hunched over the counter separating and cutting vegetables. “Hazza,” he said, his voice thick with sleep, as he wrapped his arms around Harry from behind. “What’re you doing?”

“Making breakfast, what’s it look like, Lou?” Harry asked, turning his head to look over his shoulder fondly at Louis.

Rolling his eyes, Louis continued, “So, I was thinking, I’m going to go up to shore today and see if I can figure out what happened to my family. You wanna join me?”

The change in Harry’s posture was immediate as every muscle in his body tensed and he froze. Louis could see that his jaw was clenched tight, and he frowned, confused. “Harry? Harry, what’s wrong?”

Harry turned, suddenly, breaking away from where one of Louis’ arms was still wrapped around him. “I-” He paused, squeezing his eyes shut. “I’m not going to join you, no, but you can do whatever you want. Just don’t-” He shook his head annoyedly, abandoning the vegetables as he swam angrily out of the kitchen and out of the house.

Louis frowned, watching Harry go. He didn’t have a clue what was wrong with Harry, but in the end it couldn’t possibly be his fault, so he shrugged it off. Harry would come to him in his own time. For now, Louis needed to find out what happened to his family. Grabbing a piece of seaweed that Harry had been cutting up, Louis began the fairly long swim to shore, eating the seaweed as he went. By the time he reached the shore, he had eaten it and managed to get rid of the taste.

Nerves wracked through his body as he neared his family’s beach house, and in the end he decided not to get too close at first. Quite a bit away, he poked his head above the water and was immediately surprised with the feel of air travelling through his lungs. “That’s weird,” he said out loud, reaching a hand to feel where his gills were retracting into his skin.

Shaking off the minor shock, Louis began to float closer to land, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for the tell-tale signs of his sisters. It wasn’t much at first, just the occasional sound that would sound familiar as it reached his ears, but as he got closer he realized that he was hearing a movie playing from inside. Not just any movie, either: The Little Mermaid. Louis felt tears welling up in his eyes, but he didn’t let them fall, determined to be strong.

Louis was careful as he continued nearing the shore, making sure he was ready to duck out of the way at any second. Soon he had reached the beach and there was no way to get closer without going on land. Fortunately, Louis knew his home’s layout, and he knew that if the girls were watching the movie in the livingroom, their backs would be to the beach, and their mum would most likely be either watching it with them or on the other side of the house in her study.

Tentatively, Louis began to crawl onto the beach. It was tough going without legs, but he eventually made it to the edge of his house. Slowly, he pulled himself up using the window sill so he could peek inside. Sure enough, the girls were all sitting around the TV, their backs to him. Louis quickly found Lottie curled up with Felicity, and it was perhaps the happiest he’d felt all month.

He only stayed to watch them for a few seconds; his mum could walk in at any moment and she’d notice him immediately. When his eye finally shed a single tear he decided it was time to go. Lowering himself to the ground, he wiped it from his face, before beginning the slow crawl back to the sea. It was easier going the second time round, having gotten used to dragging himself by his hands. He reached the water fairly quickly, and immediately sunk into it’s depths. Louis began the journey back to Atlantis almost immediately, not wanting to linger where he was no longer wanted.

Dusk was setting upon the city when Louis finally made his way through the large open gates. It didn’t take him long to get back to his home, and he was both relieved and not to see that Harry was home. The curly haired merman was sitting in the main room, staring worriedly at the door, as if waiting for Louis. As soon as Louis entered, Harry shot up, rushing to him and wrapping his arms around him in a hug. “I’m so sorry, Lou, I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you,” he said into Louis’ hair.

Wrapping his arms around Harry in return, Louis quickly reassured him, “It’s okay, Hazza. I dunno why you got that way, but I’m sure you had a reason. Anyone, it’s good that I went alone; it was easier that way. And now it’s time for me to let go of them, and hold on to you.”

Harry made a sound as if he was purring and nuzzled his head against Louis’ hair. “I’m glad. How’d it go?”

“Well. They’re all okay, I guess. I mean, Lottie’s alive. They were watching Little Mermaid, so I guess they’re not doing perfectly, but they’ll be okay.” At that, Louis pulled away, taking Harry’s hand instead, and leading him to their room to cuddle. It had been a long day, and before long Louis was asleep in Harry’s arms as Harry sang softly into his ear. _“Yes you want her, look at her, you know you do. Possible she wants you, too, there is one way to ask her. It don’t take a word, not a single word, go on and kiss the girl…”_

 

~~~

 

The next day, Louis had felt refreshed, as if he had cleansed himself of an anxiety he hadn’t realized he’d been holding on to. It was a rare morning in which Harry was still laying with him, his arm stroking Louis’ back, alerting Louis to the fact that he was already awake.

“Mmm, morning,” he said, his slurring with sleep as he nuzzled his head into Harry’s chest.

“Morning,” Harry returned, his voice even deep and rough with disuse. “Practically afternoon, actually. You slept quite a while. Do you feel alright?”

Louis regrettably realized he’d have to speak now; he’d wanted to just listen to Harry speak for eternity. “I feel great, like a new man. I was thinking I could get a job today, actually, what do you think?” He turned his face upward so that he could watch Harry’s reaction from below his chest.

Harry gave him a sideways grin, “Why d’you want a job?”

“Well, if I have a job, I’ll feel like I’m actually doing something worthwhile. Plus, I’ll be able to pay my share of rent, rather than mooching off of you.”

Harry’s grin widened. “What makes you think I don’t like you mooching off of me?” Harry leaned down to kiss Louis’ forehead before he reluctantly began to get up. Pulling Louis up with him was much easier than it would’ve been on land, and pulling him to the kitchen was, perhaps, easier. “You want something to eat?”

Louis was still bright red from feeling Harry’s - _so fucking full holy fuck_ \- lips on his forehead. It took him a moment to register that Harry was talking, but when he did he quickly nodded. “Yeah, sure. Anyway, about the job. Do you think I could work with you, maybe? Like, if your boss would offer me a job, I mean…”

Harry nodded as he began to cut up vegetables, “Yeah, I could probably hook you up with a job.”

Louis grinned and hurried Harry along so that they could look into it quicker. The day passed quickly after that, and by the time the day was over Louis was an employed man. That night Louis, once again, fell asleep curled against Harry’s side, his head tucked into Harry’s neck. And that night Louis, once again, slept fitfully all through the night.

 

~~~

 

It took Louis about 2 weeks to get mostly used to his job. It was just a job in a shop working with Harry, and that was what made it hard to get used to: Harry. The job took him about two seconds to figure out, but he couldn’t ever quite get used to seeing Harry all the time. To see the proud look on Harry’s face whenever he did something right. Or the fond, amused look when he got something wrong. The way Harry would shake his head and chuckle, push him lightly out of the way, and do it for him.

After a few weeks of working together, though, Louis figured out how to play Harry just enough to get those looks whenever he wanted them. He didn’t overuse it, though, he was always careful to do so in low doses so that Harry wouldn’t catch on.

Something Louis wasn’t prepared for, though, was the way sometimes Harry’s eyes would linger on his lips just a second longer than normal. He certainly wasn’t prepared for how often that particular event occurred. At first it was just every few days, but as time continued passing, this occurrence got more and more frequent.

By the third week on the job, Louis could hardly contain himself. It was his third Monday on the job when Louis gave up resisting, and resigned himself to the fact that _What the fuck, I’m gonna fucking kiss Harry!_

He forgot to factor other people into his plans, though, and that was probably his biggest mistake.

It was when he was monitoring the register that his plans started to come together. Harry was supposed to be in the back room but, as per usual, he had gravitated his way towards Louis. Under pretences of leaning past Louis to grab something off the counter, Harry managed to lean right into Louis’ space, and, as Louis had his back to the counter, Louis’ face ended up right next to Harry’s face. Harry pulled back slowly, maintaining constant eye contact with Louis up to the point where his lips flickered downward. _Does he realize what he’s doing?!_ Louis’ own eyes darted to look down at Harry’s lips before he returned to staring into Harry’s eyes. He searched for something - some sort of recognition of what was about to happen - before he closed his eyes and began leaning slowly forward and up. Their lips were so close, and he could feel Harry’s breath on his lips. It was probably the closest they’d gotten so far - and that was saying something. Louis peaked out from under his eyelashes to see that Harry had closed his eyes as well. Stealing himself, Louis was about to dart across the final distance when suddenly he was thrown into the counter, with Harry’s body pressed against his painfully, and they headbutted, but not where he had wanted them to; someone had apparently tripped - how do you trip when you’re swimming??? - and fell into Harry, causing him to fall into Louis. Once they had successfully disentangled themselves, Louis looked up to see that it was bloody Niall.

“Sorry, lads! I was just, er-” he gestured to the merchandise that was now littering the floor. “My bad…”

Louis was still in such shock that he couldn’t even tell Niall off. Instead he just shook his head and bent to help him clean up the mess, Harry following quickly after them. The mess took a few seconds to clean up, but the mess of emotions that Louis had was going to take a lot longer. _Well, shit._

 

~~~

 

After that fateful almost-kiss, Louis lost his nerve. Everytime he and Harry would have an intense moment, Louis would pull away, afraid of what it would do to him if they came close without doing it, again. As it was, this brought on even more tension than before, but it couldn’t be helped. They went on like this for a fortnight before it became too much for Louis. It was a Friday, and Louis had come to the conclusion that something was going to have to happen soon, or he’d go crazy.

As their shift neared it’s end, Louis approached Harry from behind, wrapping his arms around him as per usual. “Hazza, d’you want to do something fun tonight?”

Harry turned in Louis’ arms and grinned down at him, “I’d love to, but I’m afraid I’ve already got plans. I told Nick I’d hang out with him tonight. He somehow acquired some liquor from land, and he wants to go use it. Told him I’d join him...maybe tomorrow night, yeah?”

Louis’ smile dropped slightly, disappointed, but he tried keep up the appearance. “Yeah, that’s fine. Well, have fun with Nick.”

Soon after, they closed up shop and returned to their flat. Harry had to leave right after they got there, however, leaving Louis a night to himself. He spent the evening sleeping, mostly, but by 3 a.m. he had slept his fill. He decided to pass the time by going for a walk - well, a swim. He was careful to be quiet - Perrie and Zayn had finally gotten home and were sound asleep - and began making slow circles through the “streets”. He was approaching the flat for the third time that night when he saw a strange sight ahead of him; Harry and another merman approaching the flat. Harry was leaning heavily on the man - who Louis assumed was Nick - and Louis was just able to make out bits and pieces of their conversation.

“I dunno, Nick……...yeah, well I’ve known’im long enough, ‘aven’t I?” Harry was slurring pretty bad - human booze must have an effect on the human part of them. “I fancy ‘im……..I hardly even saw ‘im, but………..I love ‘im.”

Louis gasped. _Nonononono Harry likes me! He likes me….doesn’t he??_ Louis clutched his head in his hands, pulling on his hair anxiously. His breathing became quick and shallow, “No,” he muttered. _He’s been playing me! He just thought he’d have a good laugh but he’s been seeing someone all along!”_ Louis began shaking his head, tears beginning to stream from his eyes. A sob ripped through his throat and he began to swim in a random direction. At first it looked like he was going straight towards Harry and Nick, but he whizzed passed them quickly, not bothering to stop when Harry called his name. He kept swimming after he exited the gates, but this time he took a turn and headed towards territory he had yet to explore. _I can’t live near Harry now that I know this, I’ll just have to find a new colony of mermaids to live with, or die trying._ Of course, Louis didn’t really want to die, he just wanted to forget about Harry and everything that had happened and about _Oh shit I’m in love with that tosser._ When he came to this realization his sobbing began coming with renewed vigour.

He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, and therefore didn’t notice that he had came across a very dark, dodgy area of the ocean. He didn’t notice, at first, that something was moving in the shadows. He didn’t notice until he heard it. It’s growl was something he’d never heard before; deep and echoing. It vibrated through Louis’ body, and he quickly realized that whatever made that sound was huge. He began darting his eyes around, trying to discover the source of the noise in the shadows. It took him a few minutes to realize that it was the shadows. The seamonster was massive; it’s winding tail was long and snake-like and nearly 60 feet in length, if Louis was going to take a guess. It’s eyes were glowing pale gray, it’s pupils cat-like. Louis was caught in it’s stare, paralyzed with fear. He knew he should start making an escape, but for some reason he couldn’t move. It began slithering it’s way through the water towards him, it’s mouth parting as if to smile, when suddenly something caught Louis’ arm - somebody. He turned and, seeing Harry, was caught with the infuriating urge to throw his arms around Harry in fear. _No, he’s a lying tosser, you’ve got to forget about him!!_ He reminded himself.

Harry didn’t give him time to do anything, however, before he was pulling him away from the monster as quickly as he had appeared. It appeared that with Harry’s longer tail came more speed, and he was practically dragging Louis. The monster immediately began pursuing, but it was sluggish with it’s size, and it couldn’t fit in the tight spaces that he and Harry could. They were unable to gain a lead, but it was unable to catch up.

They darted around and through rocks and plantlife, up and down, dodging anything they couldn’t go through. Adrenalyne coursed through Louis’ veins as he fought to move as quickly as Harry. He chanced a glance behind but quickly realized it was a mistake; with his eyes off from where he was going, he flicked his tail wrong and caught the end on a sharp rock, ripping a tear in it. “Shit,” he swore, before hurrying after Harry again.

Louis could see the end of this dark section of sea ahead of them, he could see where the sea became safe and blue again, and he moved with renewed vigour. The seamonster sensed the end as well, as it made a last lunge, it’s teeth crashing closed where Louis and Harry had been seconds before, before it let out a loud roar and sank back into the shadows.

Seeing that they were out of harms way, Louis collapsed to the sea floor, panting. “What the hell was that?!”

“That was a Healy. They’re massive sea-monsters, but they’re fairly uncommon, luckily. How you managed to find the only one within a hundred mile radius, I don’t know. We call that one ‘Matty’.” Harry scowled in the general direction of the Healy.

Unfortunately, Louis’ adrenalyn seemed to have reached it’s end, because the rip in his fin began to sear with pain. Louis let out a cry of pain when the cut came in contact with the sea floor, causing Harry to swim to him as fast as possible.

“Shit, let’s get out of the open,” Harry said, before gathering Louis into his arms and swimming with him to a nearby cave. It was, coincidentally, the same cave that they had spent their first night together in. _Just my luck,_ Louis thought bitterly.

Harry sat him down gently on the ground, before moving his hand to lightly touch the rip. “I’m gonna heal it, alright?” Louis just nodded, and soon there was a flash as Harry used his powers to help Louis. “I can’t fix the cut; you’ll always have a bit of a rip there. But it won’t affect your swimming. I’ve managed to heal it so it won’t hurt or bleed, though,” Harry grinned tentatively at him.

Louis returned the smile before remembering why he’d run off in the first place. He frowned. “I feel like I’ve been lied to,” he admitted.

“What d’you mean?” Harry moved so that he was laying on his side next to Louis.

“I thought...Harry, I thought you and I had something going on… or I thought you fancied me.” His face lit up bright red with embarrassment. “But I heard you talking to Nick...I feel like you’ve been using me!”

Harry’s eyebrows creased rather adorably - _shut up, Louis!_ “I’m really confused. What d’you mean I’ve been using you? What’d you hear?”

“You said that you fancied some guy! You’re in love with him! And all this time you’ve been stringing me along!”

Suddenly Harry burst into laughter, his dimples prominent through all of his cackles. “N-no!” he exclaimed, trying to calm down. However, he looked at Louis, saw his confused expression, and began laughing again. “S-sorry, Lou, it’s just I-” Laughter. At long last, Harry calmed down enough to speak clearly. “You misunderstood me. I wasn’t saying I fancied some guy… I fancy you! I was talking about you!”

Louis gaped at him as he processed what he’d just said. “I...You like me? You fancy _me?_ But-I-You…” Louis trailed off, staring at the ceiling of the cave. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re in love with me?”

Harry smiled softly at him. “Yeah.”

“Say it,” Louis requested.

“I’m in love with you.”

“Good, because I’m in love with you, too,” Louis said. “And I’d quite like to kiss you, now, if that’s alright.”

“Yea-er…” Harry seemed to remember something and he suddenly looked indecisive. “I need to tell you something first, okay? Then, if you still want to kiss me, you can.” Louis nodded, signalling for Harry to continue. “So, you already know that I used to come up to the surface so that I could see you, and listen to you sing. You didn’t see me except for a few times, so you don’t realize how I came up there quite a bit, I guess. Well, I’ve never actually introduced you to the Elders, but they play a pretty big part in life down here. They’re like the council, you know? You had those on land, I think. Anyway, they keep order, and the leader, Simon, is pretty understanding, and all, so I figured he’d be fine with whatever. Well, they caught wind that I’d been coming to the surface to see you, and they were pissed. They were afraid that I’d be seen and humans would find out about us. So, they forbade me from returning to the surface again.” Harry took a breath, pausing for a minute for Louis to catch up, before continuing again, “So, I was pretty mad, and I was just roaming the ocean outside of the city, in this area, actually, and I was so mad that I caused a storm. It was an accident, of course, but sometimes we have the power to cause unpredictable hurricanes. Well, I was a bit taken aback by it, and annoyed that I’d caused it, but then I saw something way in the distance, and at first I thought it was just something that had been thrown into the sea from the storm, but then I realized that it was you. You’d come out here for Heaven knows what reason, and you’d been caught in the storm I caused. And you died before I could get to you.” Harry could no longer make eye contact, and was staring emotionlessly straight ahead. “It’s my fault you’re dead. I understand if you don’t want to see me again.”

Louis didn’t answer for a long time, lost in thought. He wasn’t sure what to think, if he was honest with himself. At first, he felt betrayed, but as he thought about it, he realized that it really wasn’t Harry’s fault. Harry hadn’t wanted this to happen. And, if truth be known, Harry probably would’ve fought his hardest to save Louis, if he’d reached him in time. In the end it all came down to whether or not Louis was a reasonable person. And the answer was yes, he was. Having come to the conclusion that he didn’t give a fuck, Louis turned to Harry at last.

“I don’t care, Harry. You didn’t do it on purpose, and it’s not your fault. I love you anyway,” and then he finally gave into the urge that he’d been suppressing for over a month. He reached out a hand to wrap around the back of Harry’s neck, pulling him to meet Louis halfway for a kiss. It was slow at first, both of them just getting used to the feel of the other’s lips against their own. But then Louis realized what they were doing _at last_ , and pulled him even tighter against him, their lips probably bruising from the force - not that they cared. It was fairly short, and didn’t escalate into anything more, but it was the most satisfying thing Louis had felt in weeks. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of Louis’ shoulders; he finally had Harry, after so long of waiting. “I’m so glad I get to be part of your world.”

 

~~~

 

They ended up spending the night in the cave again, too knackered to make the return journey that night. The next morning, Louis woke up feeling Harry’s hand rubbing soothing circles on his back, lightly tracing the tattoos on his arms. “Morning…” Louis mumbled. He could feel Harry chuckle underneath his head where it was laying on Harry’s chest.

“Nearly afternoon, actually.”

Louis just groaned, before reluctantly stretching out of his comfortable position. Before he rose to an upright position, he placed a quick kiss to Harry’s lips. “I suppose we should be getting back, then, yeah?” Harry nodded, and soon they were swimming leisurely in the direction of Atlantis.

“So, what’re we going to tell everyone?” the question was open-ended, but Louis was sure Harry would understand what he meant.

Harry tensed a bit, despite Louis’ carefulness in phrasing, and Louis furrowed his brows; he still didn’t understand why Harry would occasionally get that way about things. “I dunno. I want to be with you, and I don’t mind if you want to tell the lads, but that’s all I’m comfortable with for now. I’d like to keep this more between us and the lads, yeah?” Harry looked at him, seemingly worried that Louis would get pissed off.

Louis would never tell Harry this, but it did hurt his feelings. He wasn’t sure why Harry didn’t want to tell people that they were in a relationship; what if it was because he was embarrassed of Louis or something? But Louis put on a large grin and nodded, “That’s fine, Hazza. Whatever you’re comfortable with.” He paused for a moment before adding, “But what are we, may I ask? Just for my own personal knowledge?”

Harry nodded, “Well, that’s more something we have to discuss together, but I would like to be in an exclusive relationship with you, if that’s something you’re interested in.”

Louis ceased his swimming to throw his arms around Harry, “Yeah, of course! I’d love that. So, are you my boyfriend?”

Harry blushed, “Yeah, I suppose I am.”

“And can I kiss my boyfriend?”

“If you must.”

Harry smirked briefly before Louis’ lips met his, Louis once again pressing their lips together tightly. This time, though, it was slower and lasted longer. By the time they finished kissing and made it back to the flat, it was dark.

As they lay in their bed that night, Louis grinned, angling his head from where it was once again lying on Harry’s chest to look Harry in the eye, “Can you imagine how awkward this would’ve been if I hadn’t reciprocated your feelings?”

Harry just scoffed and lightly swatted Louis on the back of the head while Louis shook with quiet laughter.


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis and Harry are together at last, but Harry won't let them tell anyone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so this is it, the end!! I'm so attached to this, and I've spend the past, like, 3 weeks working on it so now that it's over I don't know what to do with myself; I kinda went into shock when I finished tbh. Anyway, comment, like, and follow me on tumblr (haroldarlin) and twitter (hazzahunny)! Thanks so much for reading, ily all!!! Enjoy! :)

It took a total of 3 days for someone to realize something was up with Harry and Louis. They were all so used to the two of them hanging off each other that it wasn’t until Zayn walked in on the two of them snogging in the kitchen that the truth came out. Zayn had screamed like a little girl, having been caught by surprise, before letting out a startled, “Oi! What’re you doing?!”

Harry and Louis had pulled apart, but kept their arms around each other, looking to Zayn curiously. “We’re having a snog,” Louis said bluntly, shrugging.

“But-” Zayn’s eyes darted between the two of them confusedly. “This is new!”

Harry laughed loudly, quickly slapping a hand to cover his guffaw. Louis just grinned at his _boyfriend_. “Yeah, that’s new,” he agreed.

Zayn just shook his head at them, before returning to his room where he no doubt told Perrie everything. that he had just witnessed.

Harry was just calming down from his laughter, and Louis reached a hand to boop his nose.  “Thought that was funny, did you, boyfriend?”

Harry giggled, grinning widely. “Mmhmm.” He leaned forward to kiss Louis on the nose, but didn’t seek to further it, instead leaning back and pulling Louis to his feet. “Dance with me.”

Louis laughed, “We haven’t got feet; we can’t dance!”

Harry shook his head, grinning, as he pulled Louis against him and rested a hand on the other merman’s waist. “Sure we can. It’ll be different, obviously, but we can do it.” Harry rested his cheek against Louis’, and Louis revelled in the warmth of it against his own. He moved to place his own hand on Harry’s shoulder, their other hands still interlocked as they swayed. Harry began humming under his breath, the song sounding suspiciously like _I See The Light_ from Tangled, which Louis had taught Harry a week ago. After a few moments, Louis began singing Rapunzel’s part quietly. He pulled back as he sang to look at Harry, committing his every feature to memory. As Louis finished off his part, he looked into Harry’s eyes and they grinned at each other, “Now that I see you…”

After that, Harry sung Flynn’s part, and when they finished the song, Louis leaned in for a kiss, short and sweet.

As they parted from their dance, they realized that it had gotten quite dark, and retired to bed. Then, they once again fell asleep in each other’s warm embrace.

 

~~~

 

A few weeks later, Louis wakes up in Harry’s arms, and couldn’t help but find his eyes drawn to Harry’s tattoos. He’d always been fascinated by their deep black lines on his pale skin, how they made him like a beautiful canvas. Louis had tattoos of his own, of course, but it was different seeing them on the man he loved.

After a few minutes, Louis realized that Harry was awake when he shifted under him. “What’re you doin’,” he slurred, his voice still thick with sleep.

“Looking at your tattoos,” Louis moved a hand over to trace along the anchor. “They’re so pretty…”

Louis could’ve sworn he heard Harry mumble “so are you…” and he grinned, blushing.

“I wish I could get another tattoo, but I don’t suppose there are any underwater tattoo parlors,” he chuckled.

“You’re so narrow minded, Lou,” Harry teased him. “Where do you think I got this anchor? Did you think I’d had an obsession with marine life my entire life?”

Louis blushed, “Yeah, I suppose… Wait, so there are?”

He could feel Harry nod against his hair, “Yeah, there are. D’you want to get one? I can take you.”

And that’s how 30 minutes later found Harry and Louis in the tattoo parlor, Harry holding Louis’ hand as the tattoo artist drew a thick rope tied in an infinity sign around his wrist. “To go with your anchor,” Louis had explained when Harry had questioned him. Harry had just grinned before pulling him into a tight hug.

When the tattoo was done, Louis wanted nothing more than to pull Harry into a kiss, but he quickly remembered that they were still in public, so he sighed and dragged Harry along to pay, instead.

If truth were known, it hurt Louis’ feelings that Harry didn’t want to tell anyone about them. _He’s got his reasons, I’m sure._

If, that night, Louis frowns just a little bit when Harry closes the curtains before kissing him, he won’t tell Harry that. And if Louis stared at his reflection critically when Harry was in the other room, he wouldn’t tell him that, either. _What if he’s just embarrassed of me…?_ Louis thought. He knew that he was being ridiculous, of course, and that Harry wasn’t that kind of person. But there was still a small voice nagging at him, making him wonder… _What if?_

 

~~~

 

After that, things got both better and worse. They were better because they were together, and Louis was in love with Harry, and Harry was in love with Louis, too. They were practically inseparable, and when they were apart they talked only of each other to the great annoyance of everyone around them. Things were great.

But Harry still wouldn’t even hold Louis’ hand when they were in public, only exchanging brief hugs every once in a while. It was worse than before they had entered a relationship, at least then Louis had been able to link his arm in Harry’s. Now, if he tried anything, Harry would tense up and say, “Not now, Lou.”

At first Louis had tried to pretend it didn’t bother him, making excuses for Harry’s behavior in his head. _He’s just a private person…_ and _Maybe he’s got a weird thing about PDA_. But Louis knew that these weren’t the case, having known Harry for going on 4 months, now. A part of Louis still wondered if Harry was just embarrassed to be seen with him, and that was maybe the worst.

Louis often thought about maybe just confronting Harry about it, but then he worried that things would get even worse. Maybe Harry would realize that he’s finally had enough of Louis and he’d break it off. So, Louis kept quiet, putting on a brave smile and hoping Harry didn’t notice how upset he actually was.

It was going too well.

 

~~~

 

“Lou, wake up!!” Harry’s voice cut through Louis’ dreams, rubbing his hands over Louis’ arms.

“Mmm, wha’?” Louis asked, rolling over and trying to go back to sleep.

“It’s your birthday!”

Louis’ eyes flew open. “I’ve been here four months?” He sat up slowly, counting the months on his fingers confusedly. “Oh. Yeah, it is my birthday...Except I thought I stopped having birthdays like Bella did when she became a vampire.”

Harry’s eyes knit adorably and he jutted his lower lip out, confused. “You know a vampire?”

“No, of course not, you goof. She’s in a book, but I should’ve known you wouldn’t get my reference. Anyway, I thought I stopped having birthdays. I’ve stopped aging.” Louis prompted.

“Well, yeah, you’ve stopped aging, but it doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate your birthday.” Harry grinned, leaning down to lightly kiss Louis’ sensitive gills.

Louis shivered, “A-alright. But that means tomorrow’s Christmas. Shit, I need to get presents. Or, do mermaids give presents?”

“Kind of. Some of us give presents, but then sometimes it’s hard to find really thoughtful stuff, you know? So if you’re wanting to give something really heart-felt, you give a memory...And what I mean by that is you have a really memorable experience with them, and on the ‘date’ of sorts, you find something and give it to them. That way, that object takes on meaning. Understand?” Harry talked, gesturing with his hands as he explained the concept to Louis.

Louis nodded, excited suddenly. “Is that what we’re doing for my birthday?” At Harry’s nod he continued, “Can it be sort of a joint thing, like also for your Christmas? I’ll plan the first half, and you can plan the second?” Harry chuckled and nodded again.

Louis pumped his fist before surging up from the bed. “Let’s go now!”

It took them 30 minutes before they actually left their flat, having been stalled by a Zayn hair crisis that required Louis’ expertise. Louis still wasn’t sure how Zayn got his hair to stay so perfect underwater, but he wasn’t going to question it.

Louis didn’t know a whole lot that they could do, so in the end he hesitantly approached Harry with an idea as they slowly swam their way through the busy streets. “So, I was thinking we could go up to where we first met… But only if you’re okay with that!” Louis exclaimed. “My family won’t be outside today; it’ll be too cold for the girls.”

Harry was silent for a long moment before he finally nodded, “Yeah, that sounds okay...We just can’t tell anybody, yeah?”

Louis had nodded, and then they swam with a bit more purpose. It took them nearly an hour to make it to the beach behind Louis’ family’s home. When they did, Harry surfaced first, darting a look around for Louis’ sisters. When he had confirmed that they were nowhere to be found, he signaled for Louis. They waded in the shallows, finding a spot to lay, just behind a large rock, so that if the girls looked out, they would be hidden.

Once they were laying side-by-side, Harry intertwined their fingers and turned his head to grin at Louis. Louis had already been gazing at Harry’s face, wondering how he got so lucky to have such a wonderful boy for his own. Having caught Louis staring, Harry grinned cheekily and pulled him in for a chaste kiss.

As the afternoon passed, they didn’t speak much, preferring to just enjoy each other’s company. When the sun began to set, however, Harry sat up reluctantly and pulled Louis with him back into the sea. “My turn,” he exclaimed as they sank into the depths. He pulled Louis along with him, but they didn’t go far.

_Of course,_ Louis thought as they approached the dark cave where they had already experienced so much. _This is so…_ Harry. He turned to grin at the curly haired boy, though his curls were somewhat lost underwater.

“What d’you think?” Harry asked, uneasily, as they settled onto the cave floor.

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect,” he grinned, before pulling Harry into a kiss, this one slow and passionate.

After a moment, Harry pulled back to speak, “Each time we’ve been here we’ve had a new first...first night together, first kiss…” He trailed off shyly. “I thought- I mean if you want to, I thought maybe we could have another first…” He looked up at Louis from under his lashes, biting his lip nervously.

Louis nodded, grinning lovingly at his boyfriend. “Yeah. Yes, that sounds… Yeah.”

Harry gave him a blinding grin before once again their lips met in a kiss, but this time there was the promise of more.

 

~~~

 

After that, the two of them had fallen asleep in each other’s arms, but this time it was different. When they woke up, Harry found a pretty, round bluish rock to give to Louis for his birthday. Then, the two of them leisurely made their way back to Atlantis, clinging on each other and being altogether disgustingly cute, if Louis were to say so himself - which he did. But of course, midnight comes eventually, and Cinderella’s ball isn’t eternal. At the first sign of mermaids, Harry detached himself from Louis, keeping a very platonic amount of space between them. And Louis, naturally felt the - what was becoming the _very familiar_ \- pang in his chest. He managed to control his urge to get mad at Harry until they got into their flat. But as soon as they did, Louis angrily swam so that he was in Harry’s path and clenched his fists at his sides, determined not to cry. Naturally, the waterworks began immediately, “What the fuck, Harry?!”

Harry’s eyes widened and he backed up almost involuntary, confused. “W-what? Lou, what’s wrong?”

Harry made as if to wrap his arms around Louis in a hug, but Louis shook his head and pushed Harry back. “I- Am I not good enough for you? Is that it? Or is there something you’re not telling me? I just- Harry, I don’t understand. We’re together and we’re happy but you won’t let us show the slightest sign of friendship in mixed company! I don’t understand. Are you embarrassed to be seen with me or something? Is something about me not good enough?? What the _fuck_ , Harry, I can’t live like this anymore, just _please_ tell me what I’ve done wrong!!!” Louis banged one of his fists weakly on Harry’s chest, a sob wracking through his body, and he stared at Harry expectantly.

Harry seemed frozen with shock and it took him several seconds to regain his ability to speak. Tears had welled up in his eyes, and if Louis wasn’t so distraught, he would’ve felt horrible. “What? Louis, no. There’s nothing wrong with you. Oh shit, I’ve fucked up, haven’t I? There’s nothing wrong with you, I promise, it’s me, I-”

But Louis didn’t let him continue, “‘It’s not me it’s you’ is that what you’re going to say?!”

“No! Stop interrupting me, Louis. I’m trying to talk to you!” Harry said, a few tears starting to leak out, but his eyebrows were creased annoyedly and he grabbed Louis’ wrist to get his attention. “Just listen to me, okay? I’m going to tell you what I’ve never told anyone.” Louis opened his mouth to speak, but Harry used his free hand to cover it. “I’m going to tell you how I died.” At that Louis closed his mouth, stunned into silence. Seeing that he now had Louis’ attention, Harry began to speak, “From what you say, I guess being gay is pretty accepted nowadays, or at least more than it used to be… But when I was around it wasn’t. And I kept it secret until I was 18, and I knew that if my parents kicked me out at least I would be able to live somewhere on my own. But-” he squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head before continuing, his eyes still shut, “My dad wasn’t accepting. I had expected as much, but I had assumed he’d just disown me and kick me out. I was wrong. ‘You’re not my son,’ he said to me, before he tied up my hands, gagged me, and pushed me into the ocean. My father killed me because I’m gay.”

Louis stared at Harry, his eyes wide. “Fuck,” he said at last.

“Yeah,” Harry mumbled, releasing Louis from his grip, and going to rub at his eyes.

Louis immediately pulled Harry into a long hug, rubbing Harry’s back as Harry began his sobbing again. “Sorry, Harry, I’m sorry. I didn’t know or I wouldn’t have…” he trailed off.

After a bit, Harry finally leaned back from their embrace, wiping his eyes. “Thanks, Louis. I love you, alright? Like, I really do. And, I’m not ready to come out, yet, yeah? I’m just scared, you know? But, I’ll be ready someday, you’re just going to have to be patient. I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine, Harry. I understand now. Whenever you’re ready we’ll tell people.”

And that was that.

 

~~~

 

Things got better after that, properly better. Sure, Louis still wished they could tell people, but he knew it would all come in time. Louis would wait a million years for Harry; he had discovered that a long time ago. He was head over heels in love with Harry, and he knew that Harry was it for him, there wouldn’t be anyone after him.

In the meantime, they spent a lot of time together talking, kissing, and engaging in more _exciting_ activities. They were each other’s everything, and it was obvious to everyone around them how in love they were. One day when they both had the day off, Harry took Louis on a particularly _riveting_ tour of the History of Atlantis Museum in the cities center. It would’ve been boring with anyone else, but Harry’s complete animosity towards the subject kept Louis engaged throughout the entire tour.

Another day, they attended one of Nick’s booze parties and came home completely plastered, and then proceeded to have the loudest sex they’d ever had, much to Zayn’s horror. After that particular incident, they hadn’t seen Zayn for an entire week while he hid out at Perrie’s house.

And so it went like that, until suddenly Louis looked at the calendar and realized it was already “February!! Bloody hell, Harry, it’s already February! February 1st… It’s your birthday!”

Harry blushed and shook his head, “No, I stopped aging years ago!”

Rolling his eyes, Louis grabbed Harry’s wrist and went to pull him from the house. He stopped before he reached the door, though, and turned back to Harry. “Er, I was thinking we could go on a date, but if you’d rather spend your birthday here, that’s fine, too.”

Harry gave him a look as if he were having some intense inner battle, his face was blank as he stared at Louis, biting his lower lip. Finally he nodded to himself, as if he was trying to convince himself of something. “Let’s go on a date.” He locked their fingers together and gave Louis a small smile.

“Wait, in public? As boyfriends? Are you sure, Harry?”

Harry nodded, “Yeah. I’m scared - so scared, you have no idea - but I love you. And I’ve just realized that I want to spend the rest of eternity with you, but I don’t want to spend that time hiding. So yeah, I’m ready. I’m ready…”

Louis’ smiled at him, his eyes crinkling and his cheeks nearly cramping from how wide he was smiling. “I’m so proud of you, Hazza,” he said, launching himself at Harry for a kiss to the mouth. “You’re gonna get the best birthday sex ever, tonight!” he promised, before dragging Harry into the street for what would be the best date ever.

 

~~~

 

“So, I know we’ve gone a date, and everything, but… I want to come out to the elders, officially. I know it’s not that important, but I just want to completely beat my fear, you know?” Harry said one night several days later. They were sitting in the main room, absentmindedly playing with each other’s hair.

Louis pulled back to grin at him, “Yeah, I know. When?”

“Now?”

“Okay.”

And that was how Louis found himself with Harry waiting to enter the office of the elder council. He had nearly chickened out when Veronica the secretary turned to them and said, “You can go in.”

Harry gulped before going in, Louis right behind him.

“Hello, boys,” said a deep voice that Louis immediately saw belonged to Simon Cowell, according to the name plate in front of him. He wasn’t very elderly, but the rest of the council wasn’t either. Louis supposed that ‘elders’ was meant in terms of the fish half, rather than the unaging human half.

“Hello,” Louis said quietly before going to sit by Harry.

“It’s been a while since we saw you, Harry. Glad to see you’re doing alright.”

Harry blushed, “Er, yeah. This is Louis.” At the mention of his name, Louis stuck a hand out to shake Simon’s.

“Nice to meet you, Louis.”

“You, too, sir,” Louis returned before returning to where he was sitting and letting Harry speak.

“So what brings you here, Harry,” Simon asked. The other elders had been silent and watching throughout everything.

“I’ve come to tell you something… Er, Louis and I are in a relationship. That is, I’m gay,” Harry spread his hands as if he were laying everything out in front of the council.

“That’s what you’ve come here to say?” At Harry’s nod, Simon continued, “Seems like a wasted trip, if you ask me, being that we figured that out a long time ago. But congratulations,” Simon said, smiling kindly at them.

Harry just stared blankly at Simon before nodding and moving to leave. “Er, thanks!” He said, shaking Simon’s hand again before exiting, leaving Louis to follow hurriedly after him, only sparing the council a small wave.

When they got out of the building, Harry turned to Louis, his eyes widened. “I can’t believe… that went so well!”

Louis grinned, wrapping his arms around Harry in a hug. “I love you, Harry. I’ve loved you since ‘hi’.”

Harry grinned, “And I’ve loved you since ‘oops’. Maybe before that, actually.” He leaned forward to seal their lips in a kiss. It was weird being able to kiss Harry in public, and Louis wasn’t sure if he’d ever get used to the feeling. He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to get used to it.

But there was one thing Louis was certain of: he’d never stop loving Harry.

 

~~~

 

The passing of time did nothing to Louis’ human features, and he retained his youthful looks well into what would’ve been adulthood. His tail, however, grew dark and less colorful, and he knew that eventually it would look like Harry’s. Harry’s only grew more eerie looking, but it retained it’s beautiful quality, and Louis couldn’t be more in love.

After a few years of sitting around doing the same thing, Niall and Liam decided to form a band with a few other lads. Their band, KFC - they wouldn’t ever tell what it actually stood for - became rather famous, and they ended up becoming rather wealthy. They both found the women of their dreams, and married quickly, bringing the girls around to their shows.

Eventually, Zayn and Perrie wed, and moved to a home of their own, leaving Louis and Harry alone in the flat. They had celebrated by adopting a tigerfish, which was something like a dog to the merpeople. They named him Maxwell - Louis never did tell Harry why; he knew he would make fun of him to no end if he realized how much Louis had enjoyed his sister’s DS games. And then, on the 10 year anniversary of Louis’ death, Harry proposed. It had been completely unexpected, but also the most expected thing.

Harry had woke up early and pulled Louis out of bed. He’d let Louis have his time to get his hair perfect (“We’re underwater, how do you get it to stay!?”) before dragging him from their apartment. They’d left Atlantis, and began swimming, Harry leading the way, and then Louis had realized where they were going: the cave.

He found him grinning widely at his boyfriend, but followed quietly behind him. Harry pulled him to where they had lay as Louis grew accustomed to his new tail, where they had had their first kiss, and later where they had had sex for the first time. They floated there for a few moments, both of them taking in the cave and it’s memories that it held for them. They both glanced at each other every few seconds, grinning gleefully at each other. It wasn’t until Harry sank down so he was below Louis - something that was very unusual, considering Louis’ short height - that he realized something was up. “Harry?” he squeaked, his voice an octave higher.

Harry shushed him, grinning. “Quiet, I’ve got something to say, and I want to try to say it without crying.” Louis let out a short chuckle, and he could already feel the tears pooling in his own eyes, and could see matching one in Harry’s as he began to speak again, “Right, so, here I go… Louis Tomlinson, I’ve been in love with you since the day I first laid eyes on you, the day you first sang on that beach. I was in a bad mood, so I came to the surface to try and find serenity. And I found you. You were singing that dumb song from some movie I’d never even heard of, but it was about mermaids and I thought ‘What are the chances?’ So I came back the day after that, and the day after that. I came back every day just so I could maybe get a chance to hear your gorgeous voice. And I watched you, and you were beautiful. I yearned to get to speak with you, and then I found an abandoned surfboard, and I pretended to be using it just so I could speak to you. It was maybe the best day of my existence up until that point. And then you died, and I felt horrible, and I loved you and wanted to kiss you, and you were living with me and maybe life was almost perfect. But I felt like shit, and then one day you snapped, and I told you what happened, and you accepted that. And then we went through more shit, but somehow we’re still here despite everything. Your tail has changed from what once was bright blue and gold scales to something more dark, but you’re still stunning, and perfect inside and out, and I’m still in love with you. I always will be. You’re it for me. And I want to spend forever with you, so….Louis Tomlinson, will you marry me?”

Louis was speechless for a few seconds, the tears having begun flowing freely to match Harry’s silent crying. He began to nod his head vigorously up and down before throwing himself into Harry’s arms, burying his head in Harry’s neck. They held each other for a few moments before Louis pulled back enough to seal their lips in a passionate, wet - wetter than normal - kiss. When they parted for breath, Louis spoke at last, his voice cracking with his raw emotion, “Yes, oh fuck, yes. Oh, Harry, I love you more than anything, you know that?” Harry’s answering smile was blinding, and Louis soon wore one to match. “I’m so glad I get to be part of your world.”


End file.
